Some Institutions use Echo360 along with an LMS or Learning Management System. Echo360 supports integration with the five main LMS': Blackboard, Canvas, Moodle, Desire2Learn/BrightSpace, and Sakai. Although as long as the LMS supports the LTI (learning tools interoperability) standard, Echo360 should work with any of them.
Some institutions have the Admins do everything when it comes to linking Echo360 with the LMS. Some institutions want the instructors to do everything (including creating courses and sections!). Many institutions fall somewhere in the middle. So because we don't know which kind of institution you belong to, we've tried to cover all the bases with respect to documenting how to make the LMS > Echo360 integration work.
There are no instructions on this page; this page is simply a starting point for more information on making Echo360 and your LMS work together smoothly. Use the links below for detailed articles for what you want to do. For summaries of the basic instructor-based tasks, check out the sections at the bottom of this page.
Blackboard Integration Articles
- Configuring Blackboard with Echo360 - Overview
- Adding the Echo360 Tool Link to Blackboard Courses
- Embedding Echo360 Videos into Blackboard
- Adding a REST API Integration between Echo360 and Blackboard
- Linking LMS Courses to Echo360 Sections
- Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom
- Unlinking Echo360 Sections and Classes from the LMS
- Embedding Videos into LMS Content Windows (without a button)
Canvas Integration Articles
- Configuring Canvas with Echo360 - Overview
- Adding an Echo360 Link to a Canvas Course
- Embedding Echo360 Videos into Canvas
- Adding a REST API Integration between Echo360 and Canvas
- Linking LMS Courses to Echo360 Sections
- Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom
- Unlinking Echo360 Sections and Classes from the LMS
- Embedding Videos into LMS Content Windows (without a button)
Moodle Integration Articles
- Configuring Moodle with Echo360 - Overview
- Adding an Activity Link to Echo360 in Moodle Courses
- Embedding Echo360 Videos into Moodle
- Adding a REST API Integration between Echo360 and Moodle
- Linking LMS Courses to Echo360 Sections
- Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom
- Unlinking Echo360 Sections and Classes from the LMS
- Embedding Videos into LMS Content Windows (without a button)
Desire2Learn/BrightSpace Integration Articles
- Configuring Brightspace with Echo360 - Overview
- Adding the Echo360 Tool Link to Brightspace Courses
- Embedding Echo360 Videos into Brightspace Content Windows
- Adding a REST API Integration between Echo360 and D2L Brightspace
- Linking LMS Courses to Echo360 Sections
- Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom
- Unlinking Echo360 Sections and Classes from the LMS
- Embedding Videos into LMS Content Windows (without a button)
Sakai Integration Articles
- Configuring Sakai with Echo360 - Overview
- Adding an Echo360 link to Sakai Course Sites
- Linking LMS Courses to Echo360 Sections
- Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom
- Unlinking Echo360 Sections and Classes from the LMS
- Embedding Videos into LMS Content Windows (without a button)
If yours is an institution where Instructors create the Echo360 Courses/Sections to link into, refer to the information and instructions in Creating Echo360 Courses or Sections through the LMS. You may also want to set up one-click course provisioning, where linking your LMS course into Echo360 auto-creates the Echo360 Course and Section.
Creating a Link to Echo in your LMS Course
The primary thing most institutions do is to have a link in their LMS courses that directs users into an Echo360 course/section. If this link is set up properly in the LMS, Echo360 can export analytic data for students to the LMS Gradebook. Many instructors find this feature very handy.
The link into Echo can be a single link to the course Class List, allowing students to navigate into different classes from there. Instructors can also set up multiple links into Echo that lead directly into a specific classroom. Many instructors use a combination of both. That allows most students to simply view the Echo360 recordings of class lectures as needed, but also provides additional focus on particular lectures that instructors may want to be certain students view and engage with.
Export Echo Analytics to the LMS Gradebook
The tricky part for having Echo360 be able to export student analytic data directly into the LMS/VLE gradebook is properly setting up the link into Echo360. It is tricky, in part, because each LMS/VLE has different requirements for making this work.
- The link(s) into Echo360 must be created or placed in a way that it creates a Gradebook column in the LMS/VLE.
- Each link into Echo360 can generate one and only one Gradebook column.
- In order for grades to come OUT of Echo into the gradebook for an Echo360 link, each student must go INTO Echo via the link at least once. This means that if there is a link to the main course page in Echo360 AND a link directly into a class in the same course, for the students' data to be written into the gradebook for both links, the student MUST have followed both links into Echo at least once. After that, they can view the Echo content any way they like.
See Sending Student Analytics Data to the LMS Gradebook as well as How Gradebook Exported Analytic Data is Calculated for additional information on gradebook exports.
Embedding Echo360 Videos into your LMS
Echo360 has created Echo360 Embed Buttons for Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L Brightspace and Sakai. These buttons, as the name might suggest, allow users to simply select a video or interactive media from their Echo360 library and embed it directly into a content window in the LMS. Basically it's an "Easy Button" for embedding media. And these embeds are secured, meaning they authenticate the viewer, as well as track the viewing time for the user, which is then provided in our media analytic data.
But these buttons don't appear by magic; Echo360 admins have to install and configure the plug-ins that make the buttons possible. If your administrator hasn't done this, never fear. You can still embed Echo videos into LMS content windows. You just have to do it the long way. And these are "public" embeds, meaning your users may not be authenticated into Echo, and therefore may not have their views specifically attributed to them in our analytic data.